In memory of the forgotten Isabella Baumfree, a janke of Yankees who spoke only Dutch until she was nine, and whose life is in dispute in almost every detail. Even her date of birth is unknown, since US census was really lousy as far as slaves were concerned two hundred years ago. In 1826, Baumfree did not run off, for I thought that wicked, but I walked off, believing that to be all right. A year later, she was freed by the slow process of legal emancipation in New York (not abolition. There were still twenty people held in bondage in Free State of New York at the time of the war) The law did forbid the selling of slaves outside the state, as that would deny them eventual freedom. When Isabels five year old son was sold illegally out of state, she took the issue to court and, after months of legal proceedings, got back her son, who had been abused by his new owner. Isabella became one of the first black women to go to court against a white man and win the case, an act which would earn her a mention on this page even if she wasnt an alleged murderer, a monstrous religious fanatic, a relentless self-promoter, and the creator of one of the most moving of American myths. (Not to mention being the 19th c Rosa Parks who desegregated public transport in Washington DC) In 1829 she died in Christ, saying later, I hated white people until I met my final master, Jesus Christ. She first joined the cult of Matthew the Prophet, becoming officially his maid and actually his rock. This was the major scandal of her life. Her relation with the cult ended after she and the Prophet were acquitted of murder. Over the next few years, Isabella was a Methodist, a pre-Millennial Millerite, a Methodist again when the world failed to end on schedule, and eventually a Seventh Day Adventist Saint. Her first joining the Millerites was part of your religious maturation. In 1843, she changed her name to SOJOURNER TRUTH! This is what she is most famous for! The leaders of the movement trembled on seeing a tall, gaunt black woman in a gray dress and white turban, surmounted with an uncouth sunbonnet, march deliberately into the church, walk with the air of a queen up the aisle, and take her seat upon the pulpit steps. A buzz of disapprobation was heard all over the house, and there fell on the listening ear, An abolition affair! Womans rights and niggers! I told you so! Go it, darkey! . . Again and again, timorous and trembling ones came to me and said, with earnestness, Dont let her speak, Mrs. Gage, it will ruin us. Every newspaper in the land will have our cause mixed up with abolition and niggers, and we shall be utterly denounced. My only answer was, We shall see when the time comes. The second day the work waxed warm. Methodist, Baptist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Universalist minister came in to hear and discuss the resolutions presented. One claimed superior rights and privileges for man, on the ground of superior intellect; another, because of the manhood of Christ; if God had desired the equality of woman, He would have given some token of His will through the birth, life, and death of the Saviour. Another gave us a theological view of the sin of our first mother. There were very few women in those days who dared to speak in meeting; and the august teachers of the people were seemingly getting the better of us, while the boys in the galleries, and the sneerers among the pews, were hugely enjoying the discomfiture as they supposed, of the strong-minded. Some of the tender-skinned friends were on the point of losing dignity, and the atmosphere betokened a storm. When, slowly from her seat in the corner rose Sojourner Truth, who, till now, had scarcely lifted her head. Dont let her speak! gasped half a dozen in my ear. She moved slowly and solemnly to the front, laid her old bonnet at her feet, and turned her great speaking eyes to me. There was a hissing sound of disapprobation above and below. I rose and announced, Sojourner Truth, and begged the audience to keep silence for a few moments. The tumult subsided at once, and every eye was fixed on this almost Amazon form, which stood nearly six feet high, head erect, and eyes piercing the upper air like one in a dream. At her first word there was a profound hush. She spoke in deep tones, which, though not loud, reached every ear in the house, and away through the throng at the doors and windows. youtube/watch?v=XilHJc9IZvE
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 21:12:08 +0000
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